Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday accused the Congress of “lies” and a “misleading campaign” on the appointment of the pro-tem Speaker, underscoring the acrimony between the ruling and Opposition benches even before the 18th Lok Sabha’s first sitting on Monday.

The Congress had on Thursday alleged that BJP member Bhartruhari Mahtab’s appointment as pro-tem Speaker had breached the “unquestioned norm” of the senior-most MP being assigned the post.

Rijiju, the new parliamentary affairs minister, argued that Mahtab’s appointment as pro-tem Speaker — to discharge a Speaker’s functions till a Speaker is elected on Wednesday — had violated no traditions.

He asserted that Mahtab’s appointment had complied with the tradition of “Father of the House”, which he said originated in the UK’s House of Commons and was followed by the Lok Sabha. This entails that the MP with the highest number of consecutive terms is appointed to the post, he claimed.

“Mahtab has been a Lok Sabha MP for seven terms without break, and is the longest-serving member,” Rijiju said. “They (Congress) took the name of Kodikunnil Suresh. His total term is eight but there was a break in 1998 and 2004.”

“Even before the Parliament session begins… I have to say with great regret that the Congress party has launched a misleading campaign on the pro-tem Speaker. I feel ashamed that the Congress talks like this,” Rijiju told a hurriedly convened news conference.

He said the government wanted to run the upcoming Parliament session in a “peaceful” manner but the Opposition’s conduct “unfortunately doesn’t give a good feeling”.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, had in a post on X said that “by convention, the MP who has served the maximum terms is appointed Speaker protem”. He had asserted that Suresh should have got the post.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal had accused the BJP of “yet another attempt at destroying parliamentary norms”.

Rijiju emphasised that the pro-tem Speaker’s post was a “temporary” one and said it did not become the Congress to play “cheap politics”, spread “lies” and run a “misleading campaign” on social media platforms.

He said the BJP’s Maneka Gandhi was the longest-serving MP in the 17th Lok Sabha, having been in her eighth term, but was not appointed pro-tem Speaker because of a break in continuity. Instead, Virendra Kumar (also of the BJP), serving his seventh consecutive term at the time, was given the post.

Rijiju then accused the Congress of ignoring former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes — who he said were 10-term and nine-term MPs, respectively — in 2004 and appointing Congress MP Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil as pro-tem Speaker.

“There are several instances from the past when the Congress denied the post to the senior-most member of the House. I don’t want to go into all those,” Rijiju said.

Vajpayee’s 10 Lok Sabha terms till 2004 and Fernandes’s nine terms were punctuated by two breaks each, though.

In 2004, it was CPM member Somnath Chatterjee — with 10 consecutive Lok Sabha terms — who was appointed pro-tem Speaker first. But his name was later proposed for Speaker, and he was replaced by Vikhe-Patil as pro-tem Speaker. Patil was an eight-term MP with two breaks.

Rijiju sidestepped questions about the Opposition demanding the post of deputy Speaker.

He indicated that the government was in no mood to allow the Opposition to raise the NEET and NET exam fiascos.

Rijiju said the short Parliament session — from June 24 to July 3 — was meant for limited business such as the administration of the oath of office to the newly elected MPs, the joint address to both Houses by the President, followed by a discussion over the motion of thanks to the President’s address, and the Speaker’s election.

The Opposition is expected to press for an opportunity to raise the NET paper leak and the cancellation of the exam, setting up clashes with the government.

Pro-tem handbook

The Constitution does not mention the pro-tem Speaker but the official handbook on the working of the parliamentary affairs ministry does deal with the “Appointment and Swearing in of Speaker pro-tem”.

Before a new Lok Sabha elects a Speaker, the handbook says, “the duties of the Speaker are to be performed by a Member of the House appointed for this purpose by the President as Speaker pro-tem”.

“The senior most members (in terms of number of years of membership of the House) are generally chosen for the purpose, though there have been exceptions,” the handbook says.